WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:06.280 Hey, Latino USA, listener Oonsho de los Archibos. Also, there 2 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:08.799 will be some four letter words that are going to drop, 3 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:10.000 so be prepared. 4 00:00:11.840 --> 00:00:14.360 You can see Hottis from how we're standing. You can 5 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:17.000 see the buildings across the river. You can see the 6 00:00:17.040 --> 00:00:22.040 fence right there that divides the two countries. So Wattis 7 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:23.400 is right in view. 8 00:00:24.840 --> 00:00:27.600 It's the cusp of summer as the sun sets over 9 00:00:27.680 --> 00:00:32.360 La Frontera. I joined doctor Yolanda Leva, a history professor 10 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:36.080 at the University of Texas at al Paso. And there's 11 00:00:36.120 --> 00:00:40.120 also Da Vidromo, a historian who specializes on the US 12 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:41.440 Mexico borderlines. 13 00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:45.000 Just from this street alone, I mean, you could just 14 00:00:45.040 --> 00:00:48.839 go building by building and it tells you the most 15 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:52.240 important chapters of Mexican American history. 16 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.480 We are within walking distance of the Paso the North 17 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:58.200 the Bridge, one of the border bridges that connects al 18 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:01.680 Paso to see La Juarez. The Rio Grande River, the 19 00:01:01.760 --> 00:01:06.080 natural division between the United States and Mexico, snakes below 20 00:01:06.120 --> 00:01:09.080 the bridge. The three of us are standing in front 21 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:13.240 of a red brick apartment building in Segunovarrio, a historic 22 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:17.600 neighborhood in downtown al Paso. In the late eighteen, hundreds 23 00:01:17.600 --> 00:01:21.880 thousands of Mexican immigrants passed through or lived in Segunovarrio. 24 00:01:22.600 --> 00:01:24.959 It's also known as the Ellis Island of. 25 00:01:24.920 --> 00:01:28.360 The border, not the other Alice Island. What you original, 26 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:29.039 alis Islo. 27 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:33.320 The colorful streets of this neighborhood are full with layers 28 00:01:33.360 --> 00:01:36.800 of history. Once it was home to El Tostado or 29 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:37.759 Don Tosti. 30 00:01:38.240 --> 00:01:42.480 He was the first Mexican American musician to sell more 31 00:01:42.520 --> 00:01:45.560 than a million records, and he was a patrico. 32 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:50.280 A few blocks down lift Avelardo Delgado, a Chicano writer 33 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:55.880 and community organizer. But there's someone else who lived inside 34 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:58.880 the red brick apartment building were standing in front of, 35 00:01:59.440 --> 00:02:04.360 whose leg and history has not always been widely celebrated. 36 00:02:05.800 --> 00:02:12.040 In this exact apartment, once lived Teresa Uria, a Mexican revolutionary, 37 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:16.040 a kurandera or healer, and a feminist. 38 00:02:16.480 --> 00:02:19.440 She was everything. She was a curandera, she was a 39 00:02:19.480 --> 00:02:23.000 newspaper editor. I mean so many people were drawn to 40 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:26.400 her charisma that literally hundreds of people would set up 41 00:02:26.440 --> 00:02:28.320 tents in front of our home there. 42 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:33.040 In eighteen ninety six, Teresa Aurea moved to Alpasso. People 43 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:35.760 loved her they worshiped her like a saint. 44 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:40.640 Teresita became a symbol of a forgotten history that was 45 00:02:40.760 --> 00:02:44.040 utterly fascinating. I mean, she was like the Selina of 46 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:44.800 her time. 47 00:02:48.720 --> 00:02:53.520 From Pudromidia and BrX. It's Latino Usa. I'm Mariano Hosa. 48 00:02:53.639 --> 00:02:56.960 Today we bring back to life the forgotten story of 49 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:08.679 Teresa Uria, the Mexican Joan of arc Back in two 50 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:12.280 thousand and six, the city of Lbaso approved a plan 51 00:03:12.440 --> 00:03:17.040 to demolish se Bundo Barrio, the same neighborhood where Teresaurea 52 00:03:17.160 --> 00:03:22.200 healed hundreds of people in the eighteen hundreds. Teresaurea was 53 00:03:22.200 --> 00:03:26.359 a curandera who used herbs and traditional indigenous healing methods, 54 00:03:27.040 --> 00:03:30.480 but there are also various accounts of Teresa having a 55 00:03:30.600 --> 00:03:35.760 special power she could heal through her touch. In the 56 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:40.000 late nineteenth century, Teresa was a star. Aside from people 57 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:43.440 believing she was a saint, her vision of love and 58 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:49.440 equality inspired rebellions in Mexico against the dictatorship of Portfedio DS, 59 00:03:51.320 --> 00:03:54.720 But with time, her miraculous life got erased from history 60 00:03:54.720 --> 00:04:00.240 books and museums. To understand the story of today Esa 61 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:06.200 Urrea is to understand what gets remembered and what gets forgotten. 62 00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:12.600 Two historians, Davidromo and Jolanda Leva, were part of a 63 00:04:12.720 --> 00:04:18.080 resistance movement to the city's demolition plan. They created Museo Urbano, 64 00:04:18.440 --> 00:04:22.039 a space to celebrate the legacy of Segundovarrio. The museum 65 00:04:22.080 --> 00:04:26.040 included an exhibition in the very same apartment where Teresa 66 00:04:26.120 --> 00:04:31.880 once lived. Today Teresa Urrea, who at nineteen years old 67 00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:35.440 was once called the most dangerous girl in Mexico by 68 00:04:35.480 --> 00:04:41.360 the dictator Porfitio Es. Our producer Maries Kincan is going 69 00:04:41.400 --> 00:04:42.200 to take it from here. 70 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:48.279 Teresaure was born in eighteen seventy three in the last 71 00:04:48.520 --> 00:04:53.039 Green state of Sinaloa, Mexico. Her mother, Kayetana Chaves, was 72 00:04:53.080 --> 00:04:56.120 an indigenous woman. She worked in the ranch of don 73 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:00.360 To mass Urrea, a tall, light skinned rich asenda with 74 00:05:00.440 --> 00:05:06.359 Spanish lineage, notorious for his wondering eye. Kayetana was just 75 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:10.080 fourteen years old when she gave birth to Tennisita, the 76 00:05:10.200 --> 00:05:13.400 daughter of Tomas Urrea. 77 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.400 So if we're looking at it from the perspective of 78 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:20.520 society back then, fourteen is a pretty common age to 79 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:23.280 get married and to start having children. 80 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.839 This is Yolanda again. Achicana historian at the University of 81 00:05:27.880 --> 00:05:31.880 Texas at al Paso. She specializes in border history. 82 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:35.880 What is not different is that power relationship that he's 83 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:41.120 her employer, so we don't know like did she want 84 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:42.839 to have sex with him or. 85 00:05:44.520 --> 00:05:45.640 Was it forced? 86 00:05:46.760 --> 00:05:49.279 So if we look at that power dynamic, then I 87 00:05:49.320 --> 00:05:51.159 think it's very questionable. 88 00:05:52.120 --> 00:05:55.640 In an interview, Teresa said she was an illegitimate child. 89 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:59.640 She was one of nineteen children. Don tomas Uria had 90 00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:03.600 out the side of his marriage. As a child, Dedesita 91 00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:07.080 must have stood out as a Mystisa. She's described as 92 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:10.640 having light skin, large brown eyes, and long black hair. 93 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:16.760 In eighteen eighty, when Teresa was seven years old, Portfirio 94 00:06:16.839 --> 00:06:20.839 Diaz's first term as president of Mexico was ending a 95 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:24.440 military general. He came into office by staging a coup 96 00:06:24.760 --> 00:06:28.919 and reigned over Mexico for more than thirty years. The 97 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:33.960 general would shape the course of Teresa's life. Porfirio Diaesa's 98 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:37.080 time in office is known as the Portfiriato. He ruled 99 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:40.440 with an iron fist and secured his presidency by installing 100 00:06:40.440 --> 00:06:47.080 his supporters and positions of power. His opponents were sometimes assassinated. 101 00:06:46.320 --> 00:06:50.760 And He basically controlled the whole shebang, you know, all 102 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:55.880 of Mexico through corruption, through just having the just keeping 103 00:06:56.080 --> 00:06:59.960 good relations with the oligarchy in every different state. 104 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:04.560 This is Da Vidromo again, the history professor who specializes 105 00:07:04.640 --> 00:07:08.240 on the borderlands. He wrote about Teresa Oua and Ringside 106 00:07:08.279 --> 00:07:11.280 Seat to a Revolution his book about al Paso and 107 00:07:11.320 --> 00:07:18.400 Sula Huardes's connection to the Mexican Revolution. In Sinaloa, Teresa's father, Tomasura, 108 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:21.040 is forced to leave the state because he didn't support 109 00:07:21.080 --> 00:07:25.040 the Diaz backed candidate for governor. Don Tomasura decided to 110 00:07:25.080 --> 00:07:28.680 move to another family owned ranch further north in Kawora, 111 00:07:29.080 --> 00:07:31.920 a city in the neighboring state of Sonora some two 112 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:37.280 hundred miles away. Kayetana and Teresa, who was seven years 113 00:07:37.280 --> 00:07:39.800 old at the time, were among the hundreds of people 114 00:07:39.840 --> 00:07:43.600 who joined tomas Urrea in his exile from Sinaloa. For 115 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:46.680 all of her childhood and into her teenage years, Teresa 116 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:49.280 grew up with her mother in separate quarters from the ranch. 117 00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:52.960 She grew up in poverty, surrounded by indigenous people. Like 118 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:53.360 her mother. 119 00:07:54.040 --> 00:07:58.920 Recito is growing up in this time of great changes 120 00:07:58.960 --> 00:08:03.000 in Mexico, great economic changes and the rich are getting 121 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:07.040 richer and the poor are getting poorer, and there's a 122 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:10.200 little middle class, but it doesn't have much power. 123 00:08:11.200 --> 00:08:14.239 Teresita didn't go to school until she was nine years old, 124 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:19.800 but she didn't want to study. The more and more 125 00:08:19.840 --> 00:08:23.520 I read about Teresa, the more obsessed I became. There 126 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:27.880 was something marvelous or otherworldly about her. The details that 127 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:32.840 seeped in through newspapers, interviews and archives were fascinating. Take 128 00:08:32.880 --> 00:08:35.880 this quote, for example, taken from an interview in the 129 00:08:35.920 --> 00:08:39.920 San Francisco Examiner in nineteen hundred, where she described how 130 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:40.760 she learned to read. 131 00:08:41.520 --> 00:08:43.640 Later, I felt I wanted to learn how to read, 132 00:08:43.880 --> 00:08:46.760 and I learned my alphabet from a very very old lady. 133 00:08:47.559 --> 00:08:51.080 My writing came to me of itself. I wanted to write, 134 00:08:51.080 --> 00:08:53.679 and I wrote. But how I learned I don't know, 135 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.960 for I was not taught on the floor of my 136 00:08:57.040 --> 00:08:59.680 mother's house. I first wrote with my little finger in 137 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:00.000 the dusk. 138 00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:05.160 The quotuo hear of Teresa are taken from English newspaper articles. 139 00:09:05.720 --> 00:09:09.120 Teresa didn't speak English, so they are translations, and they 140 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:14.559 are voiced by one of our producers, Victoria Estra. When 141 00:09:14.640 --> 00:09:19.960 Teresa was fifteen years old, her mother, Kajitana, disappeared. It's 142 00:09:20.040 --> 00:09:24.320 not clear why. Like many details in Teresa's life, there 143 00:09:24.400 --> 00:09:27.120 are things we just don't know that have been lost 144 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:32.560 in the historical record. After her mother disappeared, Don Tomas 145 00:09:32.640 --> 00:09:35.480 Urrea ordered Teresa to move into the ranch with him. 146 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:41.240 Teresa's life completely changed. The dirt floors she grew up 147 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:44.720 with were replaced by the white adobe walls of her 148 00:09:44.760 --> 00:09:50.119 father's large ascienda. Don to mass Urias's mistress, a teenager 149 00:09:50.640 --> 00:09:54.680 nearly the same age as Teresita, lived in the ascienda too. 150 00:09:57.320 --> 00:10:01.120 At her father's ranch, Teresa became an apprentice Touila, a 151 00:10:01.240 --> 00:10:05.000 Yaqui Kurandera who worked for her father. The Yaquis are 152 00:10:05.040 --> 00:10:09.960 an indigenous group in Sonora. Through Wila, Teresa learned how 153 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.080 to heal by using plants, part of an indigenous traditional 154 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:19.760 medicine practice known as kurandrismo that predates the sixteenth century. 155 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:25.000 Gurandismo refers to a system of healing practice in Mexico, 156 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:30.200 Latin America, and in places with large Mexican communities like 157 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:38.560 the US Mexico borderlands. Prior to the Spanish colonization of Mexico, 158 00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:42.600 there were indigenous healers across the region. If you look 159 00:10:42.880 --> 00:10:49.040 at traditional medicine among indigenous people before the Europeans came, 160 00:10:49.640 --> 00:10:55.040 everybody was very specialized. Some people knew about plants, some 161 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:59.480 people knew how to work with bones, some people knew 162 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:03.160 how to do massages, just like we would think of 163 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:08.480 a medical specialization today. It's believed gorndros have a special 164 00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:12.200 don or gift that allows them to cure others, and 165 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:15.720 unlike Western medicine, gourdan deisma is not limited to the 166 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:20.840 physical body. It concerns itself with the psychological, spiritual, social, 167 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:23.880 and health needs of a person. That mind and body 168 00:11:23.920 --> 00:11:29.679 are connected. With Spanish colonization in the sixteenth century, indigenous 169 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:34.280 healing methods merge with European practices. The word gourandeto comes 170 00:11:34.280 --> 00:11:37.280 from the Spanish word kurat, which means to heal. 171 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:45.199 So then when the Spanish come and begin to control society, 172 00:11:45.400 --> 00:11:50.400 they too want to undermine the idea that indigenous people 173 00:11:50.520 --> 00:11:56.480 have knowledge or can contribute. So they don't want people 174 00:11:56.640 --> 00:12:01.040 to think, oh, look at this highly specialized meth medical system. 175 00:12:01.280 --> 00:12:04.800 Gurandar rismo was looked down upon by Spanish physicians and 176 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:10.000 was even considered criminal. During the Mexican inquisition, Gurandrismo was 177 00:12:10.040 --> 00:12:15.720 a prosecutable crime. Characteristics of kuranda Rismo include ritual Catholic prayer, 178 00:12:15.920 --> 00:12:18.200 the use of plants and herbs, and the belief in 179 00:12:18.280 --> 00:12:23.560 God or Creator. To become a Kurandea takes years of training. 180 00:12:23.880 --> 00:12:26.679 It's not something anyone can just pick up. It's a 181 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:29.320 commitment that is taken very seriously. 182 00:12:29.920 --> 00:12:33.480 So it's just like I wouldn't take a biology class 183 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:38.400 and say I'm a doctor now. People shouldn't call themselves 184 00:12:38.440 --> 00:12:42.520 at curandeta if they have not really thoroughly trained and 185 00:12:42.600 --> 00:12:49.479 they have a teacher who has trained them. 186 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:50.400 Back in al Paso. I'm in the house of Greece Munos. 187 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:52.760 My name is Gris Munos. 188 00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:59.400 A self described moher medicina or a curandera. She burns carvone, mesquite, goppal, lavender, 189 00:12:59.520 --> 00:13:04.040 and saba. The smoke fills a room and hovers around us, 190 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:09.199 swirling in esses grease. Feels connected to Teresa. She has 191 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:10.840 a picture of her and her altar. 192 00:13:11.640 --> 00:13:14.839 I'm very connected to Teresita. She's been watching me a 193 00:13:14.880 --> 00:13:19.280 long time, and Teresita is still around. She hasn't gone anywhere. 194 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:24.080 Greece is also close friends with one of Teresa's living relatives, 195 00:13:24.400 --> 00:13:29.240 the Chicano writer Luis Albertore. Like Teresa, Greece was the 196 00:13:29.280 --> 00:13:33.880 apprentice of Akurandetra for years. Grease works with the spirit. 197 00:13:34.400 --> 00:13:39.200 I'm not a midwife, I'm not a I'm not a wescera. 198 00:13:40.280 --> 00:13:45.199 Women tend to find me when they've gotten themselves a 199 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:49.560 bit lost. Maybe they just went through a major change, 200 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:56.599 maybe they need to accept something, a death of some type. 201 00:13:56.840 --> 00:14:00.440 That's really where I come in. I can't speak for 202 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:05.160 all curanderos, but essentially, especially the ones that work with 203 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:07.960 the spirit like I do. We're just here to help 204 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:10.000 you reconnect. 205 00:14:13.520 --> 00:14:18.320 In the borderlands, grandismo is still very prevalent. The borderlands 206 00:14:18.400 --> 00:14:21.920 used to be part of Mexico until the mid nineteenth century, 207 00:14:22.520 --> 00:14:26.160 twenty five years before Edessa was born, but during the 208 00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:31.720 Mexican American War of the late eighteen forties, Mexico lost Arizona, California, 209 00:14:31.880 --> 00:14:37.560 New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah to the US. 210 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:42.400 Under her apprenticeship with Wila, Esa learned the names and 211 00:14:42.440 --> 00:14:45.760 properties of more than two hundred herbs. She followed Wila 212 00:14:45.800 --> 00:14:48.320 around while her teacher did things like helping women give 213 00:14:48.400 --> 00:14:53.800 birth or treating wounds and illnesses. Then something happened to 214 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:59.080 Thedessa when she was sixteen years old. There's varying accounts 215 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:02.480 on the next set of events. Some accounts say that 216 00:15:02.640 --> 00:15:07.120 Isa had an epileptic seizure. Other reports say an engineering 217 00:15:07.160 --> 00:15:09.960 student tried to rape her and it gave Teresa a 218 00:15:10.040 --> 00:15:16.440 shock induced seizure. In either case, after losing consciousness, Teresa 219 00:15:16.640 --> 00:15:21.800 fell into a coma. They think she's dead. That Isa's 220 00:15:21.880 --> 00:15:24.760 father put his ear against her chest to listen for 221 00:15:24.880 --> 00:15:29.880 a heartbeat, but he couldn't hear anything. He ordered a 222 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:34.240 coffin to be built. They prepared that Isa for a wake, 223 00:15:34.920 --> 00:15:38.440 dressed her in a white dress. They placed her body 224 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:41.520 on a table and surrounded her body with candles. 225 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:49.200 So they make her a casket and in Elvelorio, she 226 00:15:49.280 --> 00:15:50.040 wakes up. 227 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.520 And everyone is like holy shit. After waking up, that 228 00:15:56.680 --> 00:15:59.280 Esa predicted that in three days they were going to 229 00:15:59.320 --> 00:16:01.000 need the coffin for someone else. 230 00:16:02.280 --> 00:16:04.360 And then Wila died. 231 00:16:06.800 --> 00:16:10.240 Three days later, Teresa's teacher was found in her room. 232 00:16:10.880 --> 00:16:14.720 It looked like she passed away peacefully. The cause of 233 00:16:14.760 --> 00:16:18.480 her death wasn't clear, but people speculated she died from 234 00:16:18.520 --> 00:16:19.160 old age. 235 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:23.880 Or exhaustion, and they buried Wila in the casket they 236 00:16:23.880 --> 00:16:25.000 had made for Terracita. 237 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:32.480 Coming up on Latino, Usa, Teresa Rea wakes up from 238 00:16:32.520 --> 00:16:37.600 her coma with a newfound power. She can miraculously heal 239 00:16:37.760 --> 00:17:26.640 people through touch. Stay with us, Hey, we're back. When 240 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:29.560 we left off, Teresa Rea had woken up from a 241 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:33.280 coma and had predicted the death of her mentor, Wheela 242 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:39.040 A Jaqui Granderra now Deesa, realizes she has a new 243 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:43.680 miraculous power. Producer Marieskinkam is going to pick up the 244 00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:44.480 story from here. 245 00:17:47.080 --> 00:17:51.320 After waking up from her coma, Teresa was a normal 246 00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:55.840 She fell into a trans that lasted three months and 247 00:17:56.040 --> 00:18:00.960 eighteen days. In an article from the San Francisco Examiner, 248 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:05.440 Teresa Urrea said she didn't remember anything that happened during 249 00:18:05.480 --> 00:18:06.880 those three months. 250 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:10.640 They tell me those who saw me, that I could 251 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:14.119 move about, that they had to feed me, that I 252 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:16.880 talked strange things about God and religion. 253 00:18:19.080 --> 00:18:22.439 During this trance, Teresa said she had a vision. The 254 00:18:22.600 --> 00:18:25.760 archangel Gabriel appeared to her as a young man. He 255 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:29.560 delivered her a letter. It urged everyone to repent from 256 00:18:29.600 --> 00:18:32.439 their sins, believe in Jesus and they would be cured 257 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:37.639 when she finally returned to full consciousness. Teresa had a gift. 258 00:18:38.320 --> 00:18:42.160 She could heal people through touch. One of the people 259 00:18:42.280 --> 00:18:45.399 she cured in Kavora was Marianna, a woman in her 260 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:49.960 twenties that couldn't walk. After Teresa cured her, Marianna was 261 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:53.000 able to walk again, and she became her devout, loyal 262 00:18:53.040 --> 00:18:58.000 friend and assistant. Teresa described a change happening within her 263 00:18:58.080 --> 00:18:59.199 when she healed people. 264 00:19:00.080 --> 00:19:02.360 I could still if I touched people or rub them 265 00:19:02.520 --> 00:19:05.359 make them well. I felt in me only the wish 266 00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:08.080 to do good in the world. I spoke much to 267 00:19:08.119 --> 00:19:11.159 the people about God, not about the church or to 268 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:14.560 tell them to go to church, but about God. I 269 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:17.720 told them what I believe. That God is the spirit 270 00:19:17.760 --> 00:19:20.359 of love, that we who we are in the world, 271 00:19:20.760 --> 00:19:25.199 must love one another and live in peace, otherwise we 272 00:19:25.240 --> 00:19:28.640 offend God. 273 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:34.960 Word quickly spread about the miraculous healer. Hundreds of people 274 00:19:35.040 --> 00:19:39.080 started visiting her father's ranch and Gaworah. They traveled long 275 00:19:39.160 --> 00:19:43.000 distances and were often poor and indigenous people of the region, 276 00:19:43.840 --> 00:19:48.800 the Yaqui and Mayo Indians that Esa refused to charge 277 00:19:48.840 --> 00:19:50.160 for her services. 278 00:19:50.600 --> 00:19:52.920 I have no wish to be paid. I do not 279 00:19:53.080 --> 00:19:56.040 care for find things or find houses or money. I 280 00:19:56.080 --> 00:19:57.560 will refuse no one to help. 281 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:03.879 Aside from her healing powers, there were other supernatural phenomena 282 00:20:04.119 --> 00:20:05.160 associated with her. 283 00:20:05.960 --> 00:20:10.040 Her family members believed that she was able to predict 284 00:20:10.119 --> 00:20:13.480 even when people were about to arrive that she had 285 00:20:13.560 --> 00:20:16.040 no knowledge of. She would say this, such and such 286 00:20:16.080 --> 00:20:18.920 a person is going to come tomorrow, and they would 287 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:23.760 She could predict rain, She could predict deaths in the family. 288 00:20:24.520 --> 00:20:28.359 She had other strange qualities, and people. 289 00:20:28.080 --> 00:20:33.000 Would say that she admitted an aroma of roses like 290 00:20:33.040 --> 00:20:35.840 so many people would say that, like she just smelt 291 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:36.600 like roses. 292 00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:42.120 There are also accounts of her quote unquote astro projecting, like. 293 00:20:42.119 --> 00:20:44.760 She could travel out of her body and she could 294 00:20:44.840 --> 00:20:47.639 describe places she had never been. And it's not like 295 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:50.280 she had the internet right where we could fake it. 296 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:54.199 People began to call her a saint and worshiped her 297 00:20:54.320 --> 00:20:57.399 like one. They called her Santa Theresa, la Santa de 298 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:03.239 Santa de Risita. She was only sixteen years old. They 299 00:21:03.280 --> 00:21:07.000 created prayer cards with her image, and one prayer card 300 00:21:07.080 --> 00:21:10.560 she stoically stands. She's dressed in a black dress that 301 00:21:10.640 --> 00:21:14.960 covers her arms. A long black cross hangs from her neck. 302 00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:19.280 Her black hair is wrapped in a braided bun. Angels 303 00:21:19.280 --> 00:21:23.800 surround her. Two turubs hold a crown they are placing 304 00:21:23.840 --> 00:21:27.080 over her head. Her gaze is looking at the distance. 305 00:21:29.080 --> 00:21:32.159 They build wooden statues of her to venerate her like 306 00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:35.919 a saint. Teresa said she was not a saint, that 307 00:21:36.080 --> 00:21:39.480 you don't need the mediation of the church or priest 308 00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:43.919 to cure, an idea that she repeated more than once. 309 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:48.200 In doing so, she challenged the authority of the Catholic Church, 310 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:53.560 one of the most powerful institutions in Mexico even today. 311 00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:57.040 I felt that God willed that I should heal them, 312 00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:00.480 and when they asked me, I did so. No, I 313 00:22:00.520 --> 00:22:03.320 do not think prayer is necessary, nor does one have 314 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:06.359 to believe in me to be cured. If I can cure, 315 00:22:06.600 --> 00:22:07.000 I can. 316 00:22:10.840 --> 00:22:14.320 Priests announced her as a heretic and impostor and evil worker. 317 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:18.880 The clergy threatened to excommunicate everyone that seeked her help. 318 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:22.119 Here's Grise again, the Kuranda from al Paso. 319 00:22:22.800 --> 00:22:25.760 They saw her like a living saint. So you can 320 00:22:25.800 --> 00:22:33.000 imagine what heresy to call a teenage girl Asantha right, 321 00:22:33.880 --> 00:22:38.400 a living teen girl Asanta, so she became a problem. 322 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:42.439 In those times, the only people that could talk to 323 00:22:42.600 --> 00:22:43.879 God were priests. 324 00:22:45.040 --> 00:22:47.520 From a young age. That is, I was breaking all 325 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:49.919 sorts of traditional norms and rules. 326 00:22:50.440 --> 00:22:56.280 She was completely considered heretical and completely forward for her 327 00:22:56.320 --> 00:22:58.200 time in every way. 328 00:22:59.280 --> 00:23:03.280 At the same time, the power of dictator Porfirio Dias 329 00:23:03.280 --> 00:23:07.640 only kept growing. Under the Portfiriato, thousands of Yakis were 330 00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:11.440 taken from their lands and expelled as slaves to Yucatan. 331 00:23:12.119 --> 00:23:14.159 Here's la vid romo again. 332 00:23:15.320 --> 00:23:20.080 So Porfirio Dias in Sonora carried out this very destructive 333 00:23:20.760 --> 00:23:25.919 warfare against the indigenous Yaki population and would send the 334 00:23:26.040 --> 00:23:32.120 Yakis to southern Mexico to virtual death camps and slave camps. 335 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:37.840 Teresa was often visited by the Yaquis in Kawora, and 336 00:23:37.880 --> 00:23:42.640 she was sympathetic to their uprisings. She often defended them 337 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:45.200 and said they had the God given right to fight 338 00:23:45.280 --> 00:23:48.840 for their land and freedom. In later interviews with The 339 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:52.800 New York Journal, she described watching Yaki children not even 340 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:57.439 three years old, being lynched. She called the Yaquis the 341 00:23:57.520 --> 00:24:02.439 bravest and most persecuted people in the world. This at 342 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:06.720 a time when opposing the Diaz regime was deadly, so. 343 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:11.280 Told the Yakis to fight for their lands, and of 344 00:24:11.320 --> 00:24:14.119 course this brought the enmity of Corfiolias. 345 00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:20.560 While Teresa never took arms, she inspired rebellions. This was 346 00:24:20.600 --> 00:24:23.919 the case in one small town called Tomochik, located in 347 00:24:23.960 --> 00:24:27.240 the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, about two hundred miles away 348 00:24:27.280 --> 00:24:31.720 from al Paso. After hearing about Teresa's power, Kruz Travis, 349 00:24:31.760 --> 00:24:35.119 the leader of Tomochic, and other villagers traveled to Kabora 350 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:39.800 to meet with Teresa. They witnessed hundreds of people camped 351 00:24:39.840 --> 00:24:43.080 out at her father's ranch. They had heard of Teresa's 352 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:46.720 healing powers and visited her to be cured. They were 353 00:24:46.800 --> 00:24:51.919 moved by her vision of love. Kruz Travis, the Tomoshik leader, 354 00:24:51.960 --> 00:24:57.600 and Teresa became friends and started exchanging letters. When the 355 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:02.600 villagers returned to Tomochik, they decided to only worship living saints. 356 00:25:03.320 --> 00:25:06.080 They replaced the statue of a dead saint with a 357 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:11.440 statue of a living Teresa. They chose La Sante Kaoaterresita 358 00:25:11.720 --> 00:25:16.760 as the official guardian of the town. This brought the 359 00:25:16.800 --> 00:25:20.720 great ire of a local priest who threatened to excommunicate 360 00:25:20.840 --> 00:25:25.639 every Tomochko who believed in Teresa. When they refused to obey, 361 00:25:26.080 --> 00:25:30.320 the priests sent out a message to the government. Porfido 362 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:35.520 Dias ordered the rebels to be quickly and severely punished. 363 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:39.600 And for Fioria sends hundreds of troops to utterly destroy 364 00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:40.480 the entire town. 365 00:25:42.280 --> 00:25:45.280 The rebels fling themselves into a fight they were destined 366 00:25:45.320 --> 00:25:50.399 to lose, shouting Viva la Santa Kaoura. According to Romo, 367 00:25:50.560 --> 00:25:54.240 they killed six hundred federal troops, but the Mexican government 368 00:25:54.320 --> 00:25:58.360 led a ruthless fight. They set fire to the village, 369 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:01.679 killed women and children. They stacked the bodies of the 370 00:26:01.760 --> 00:26:06.440 dead with their leader, Cruise Travis on top. Not one 371 00:26:06.520 --> 00:26:09.480 boy or man over the age of thirteen survived, according 372 00:26:09.520 --> 00:26:13.640 to historians, so. 373 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:17.119 I was just kind of a vicious, vicious attack on 374 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:22.879 anyone that would challenge the power of the dictator of 375 00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:24.040 Mexico at that time. 376 00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:30.840 The Mexican government claimed that Issita incited the rebellion. She 377 00:26:31.040 --> 00:26:34.679 always denied any involvement in any uprisings, but she also 378 00:26:34.800 --> 00:26:39.720 defended them. She believed revolution was necessary when people were oppressed. 379 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:45.200 When she was nineteen years old, Portfido dies exiled Teresa 380 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:49.679 from Mexico. I can't help thinking of Teresa's power, of 381 00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:53.000 the fact that men threw themselves into a revolution while 382 00:26:53.080 --> 00:26:54.160 screaming her name. 383 00:26:55.760 --> 00:26:59.360 Porfiodias had said she was the most dangerous girl in Mexico, 384 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:03.800 and she was a teenager. So what would make a 385 00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:10.680 teenager dangerous to a dictator with incredible power and incredible 386 00:27:10.800 --> 00:27:11.919 policing power. 387 00:27:13.240 --> 00:27:14.240 You know that to me. 388 00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:17.199 Shows you the power of her love and the power 389 00:27:17.480 --> 00:27:22.400 of her vision, which was that everyone should be equal, 390 00:27:22.520 --> 00:27:29.399 men and women, mestisos, blancos, indigenous people, everybody's human. 391 00:27:38.680 --> 00:27:42.160 After being exiled from Mexico in eighteen ninety two, Teresa 392 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:45.560 lived in Nogles, Arizona. By then that as I was 393 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:49.000 already a star. The world press had been covering her 394 00:27:49.040 --> 00:27:52.600 miraculous cures for two years. At that point, she. 395 00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:55.760 Was in the newspapers all the time, the local newspapers, 396 00:27:56.359 --> 00:28:00.200 newspapers in Mexico City, and there were articles like from 397 00:28:00.200 --> 00:28:02.480 all over the United States about her, you know, the 398 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:05.439 New York Times, and I know that there were people 399 00:28:05.480 --> 00:28:08.960 from France writing letters to her. So this is like 400 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:12.840 mega superstar in the world of the eighteen nineties. 401 00:28:13.760 --> 00:28:17.680